Boeing pledges $1.5M to renovate former historic Black hospital at Allen University
Boeing on Wednesday announced a $1.5 million commitment to the renovation of the former Good Samaritan-Waverly Hospital at Allen University, a long-shuttered Black hospital that will house an institute aimed at advancing civil discourse and a memorial to the Emanuel 9 when its $11 million makeover is complete.
The aerospace giant’s pledge brings to $6 million the total amount committed to the project, with more corporate support expected in the next 30 days, Allen University president Ernest McNealey said Wednesday.
Once renovated, the former historic African American hospital will house an Institute on Civility, Allen’s School of Education, its graduate theological seminary, the South Carolina African American Hall of Fame, a black-and-white photo gallery of past hospital employees and a permanent memorial to honor the nine victims of the 2015 mass shooting at “Mother” Emanuel AME Church in Charleston.
The Boeing Institute on Civility, as it will be called, is the centerpiece of the Waverly project.
It will offer college-level courses on subjects like the philosophy of language and conflict resolution, as well as similarly themed classes for working adults who are not enrolled in college, McNealey said.
“The Institute on Civility is the central focus of that facility and through it we would anticipate on a quarterly basis having national and international figures, thought leaders, to come and we will telecast discussions about the topical issues of the day in a civil manner,” he said.
Boeing president and CEO David Calhoun, who announced the company’s pledged support during a Wednesday afternoon press conference at Allen’s Chappelle Auditorium, said he expected the institute to become a powerful catalyst for helping promote thoughtful discourse.
“Our investment, $1.5 million, is one that we hope will have a lasting impact on this great state and our country for generations to come,” Calhoun said. “It is our shared responsibility to continue to work with those who came before us. I’m confident that the Institute and all of those who learn from it will continue the journey of progress in our society.”
U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, who also spoke at the event, related the story of Isaac Woodard, a decorated Black World War II veteran whose brutal assault by police in Batesburg in 1946 left him permanently blind and helped galvanize the Civil Rights Movement and led to the desegregation of the U.S. Armed Forces.
The 6th District congressman stressed the importance of knowing Woodard’s story and learning from the injustices of history to forge a brighter, more tolerant future.
“I think we are at an inflection point in this great country, and we must learn how to share our lives and existence with each other in a civil way,” he said. “That’s what this institute is all about.”
University officials said the Waverly project was slightly behind schedule — due both to COVID-19 and the challenges of restoring a structure on the National Register of Historic Places — but anticipate it could be finished by the end of 2021.
The 50-bed Good Samaritan-Waverly hospital, known as “Good Sam,” opened at 2204 Hampton St. in 1950s segregated Columbia, following a merger of the city’s two largest Black hospitals.
It closed just 21 years later, after other area hospitals began to integrate and accept Black patients.
Allen University purchased the property in 1987, and has long planned to renovate the building, but had thus far lacked the funding to do so.
University officials announced their latest plans to restore the historic hospital in January 2019, and broke ground on the Waverly project this past January.
McNealey said he expects buzz around the project and the additional amenities it will provide students and the community to help boost Allen’s shrinking enrollment.
The historically Black university currently enrolls 710 students, but has lost students in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, he said.
McNealey said he’s confident enrollment will eventually tick back above 1,000 students, with the growth made possible in large part due to the Institute on Civility.
Boeing’s relationship with Allen University dates back to at least 2015, when it provided $250,000 toward renovations of the university’s Chappelle Auditorium, which was in the midst of a $3 million interior renovation.
The company donated an additional $100,000 to the 700-seat auditorium’s renovation the following February in memory of state Sen. Rev. Clementa Pinckney, who was killed eight months earlier in the “Mother” Emanuel church shooting.
This story was originally published November 11, 2020 at 4:36 PM.